Sign up for our New Newsletter
Dairy St r Milk Break
Email andrea.b@dairystar.com to sign up.
DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 19, No. 12
August 12, 2017
“I want to focus on the cows, and this barn makes it easier for me to do that.” – Paul Reuter
Reuters reap benets of new facilities
“We are the fth and sixth generations of our family to farm here,” Carrie said. “The rafters [in our old barn] are the old hewn logs, and they used wooden pegs instead of nails.” “It was built for a purpose years ago, and it has served that purpose,” said Brad.
Freestall barn, parlor increases production, better health By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
WAUMANDEE, Wis. – Milking two groups in a 41-stall stanchion barn prompted Brad and Carrie Reuter and their sons, Paul and Phil, to take a serious look at their farming operation and how they wanted to continue producing milk. “The facilities were outdated. The stalls were small, it was a poor facility to feed in,” Brad said. Now the Reuters are milking their 100-cow herd in a double-6 parlor and housing them in a sandbedded freestall barn they built on their dairy near Waumandee, Wis. The farm was purchased by the family’s early ancestors in 1869.
DANIELLE NAUMAN/DAIRY STAR
The Reuter family – (from leŌ) Phil, Brad, Carrie and Paul – are thrilled with the progress their herd has made in the new freestall barn and parlor they built nearly two years ago. The Reuters milk 100 cows on their dairy near Waumandee, Wis.
Perdue visits MN on ‘Back to Our Roots’ tour
Secretary of Ag gathers input for 2018 Farm Bill By Ruth Klossner
Labor intense While milking in the old barn, their cows were crossing a stream, twice a day, 12 months of the year, regardless of weather. “We were feeding in two places, and bedding in two places, twice a day,” said Phil, shaking his head, adding that it took three people to milk, feed, switch and scrape in the old facility. Carrie agreed. “We were doing double of everything,” she said. Today in the new parlor, one person can milk more cows in the same amount of time. Keeping the labor needs to what the family can handle is very important to the Reuters, who do not want to
Turn to REUTERS | Page 5
Alive to tell his farm safety message
Schmitt spends 46 days in hospital after being run over by tractor By Krista Kuzma
Staff Writer
GARDEN CITY, Minn. — The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue visited a farm Aug. 4 near Garden City, Minn. Perdue’s Minnesota stop was part of a vestate RV tour in the rst of two “Back to Our Roots” tours to ag-heavy states. Perdue is making the trips to gather input for the RUTH KLOSSNER/DAIRY STAR 2018 Farm Bill. In announcing the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny tour, Perdue stated, “It’s Perdue speaks to media Aug. 4 at the important to look at past Paap Farm near Garden City, Minn. Turn to PERDUE | Page 10
krista.k@dairystar.com
FORT ATKINSON, Iowa – Although he has spent over a month and a half in the hospital this summer and is now relearning how to walk, Steve Schmitt tries to keep a smile on his face and a happy attitude. “I overheard my doctors say, ‘Look at this guy. He just got run over by a tractor and he’s still smiling.’ I said, ‘I think it’s because I am alive,’” Schmitt said. On June 6, Schmitt tried to stop a runaway tractor, but instead was run over on his 130cow dairy near Fort Atkinson, Turn to SCHMITT | Page 7
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Steve SchmiƩ puts a sock on his foot while in his wheel chair at his home near Fort Atkinson, Iowa. SchmiƩ was run over by a tractor, fracturing his pelvis on his 130-cow dairy.